SUPREME COURT OF THE PHILIPPINES / STOCK

MANILA, Philippines — Disciplining children will be considered child abuse if there is a clear intent to harm the child’s dignity, according to the Supreme Court (SC).

Quoting a decision written by Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez, the SC PIO said that “[t]he Supreme Court (SC) reiterated that disciplining children, even if it results in physical injuries, does not automatically amount to child abuse. For such to be considered abuse, there must be a clear intent to harm a child’s dignity.”

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The High Court added that the parents’ discipline measures for their children should not be “violent, excessive, or disproportionate to their misbehavior.”

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It also stressed that if there is no intent to harm the child’s dignity, the offender will not be liable for child abuse but can be charged with other crimes under the Revised Penal Code instead.

READ: Child protection office created in PH amid rise in online abuse cases

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In this recent case ruling, SC’s Second Division affirmed a lower court’s decision finding a father guilty of violent and excessive discipline for his 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.

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The SC found that the father beat his children from 2017-2018, kicking his daughter, striking her with a wooden rod with a nail, pulling her hair, hitting his children with a dustpan, and cursing at them.

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He argued that he disciplined his children “for misbehavior, such as failing to eat lunch and losing money from their coin banks.”

However, the Regional Trial Court (RTC) and the Court of Appeals (CA) found the father guilty of violating Republic Act No. 7610 or the “Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.”

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Section 3(b) of the law defines child abuse as “[a]ny act by deeds or words which debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being.”

The decision read that the “RTC opined that cursing and hitting a child with a wooden beater or dustpan is not the proper way to instill discipline” adding that spanking may harm the children physically, emotionally, and mentally.

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In addition, the CA said that “all the elements of the crimes charged were present,” emphasizing that the father’s acts of spanking, kicking, and hurting his children with a dustpan “constituted physical abuse and cruelty which debased, degraded, and demeaned the intrinsic worth and dignity of his children.”

READ: At least 17,600 children suffered violence and abuse in 2023, says PNP

“The father appealed to the SC, arguing that he had no intention of harming his children’s dignity. However, the SC ruled that his actions went beyond reasonable discipline, showing a clear intent to harm the children’s dignity,” SC noted.

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This led to the father’s sentence of four to six years in prisonjsbet, ordered to pay a fine worth P45,000 and P180,000 in damages for his children.

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